Douglas Todd: Don’t be naive about Christmas. Be entranced

Our mom would laugh at the sight of her two atheist boys, even as teenagers, spacing out the decorations to obtain the full Christmas esthetic.

Douglas Todd

Updated: December 24, 2018

We can all open our hearts to a warm Christmas greeting, an unexpected gift or a dazzling light display, like the the giant ball of light that enchants this young visitor at the VanDusen Gardens 2018 Festival of Lights in Vancouver. Richard Lam/PNG RICHARD LAM / PNG

Friends who are parents of a young girl and boy recently told us their children “still believe” in Santa Claus.

Thus their cozy home feels like a particularly magical place in December. The mother and father, quietly happy, go about the rituals involved in keeping alive Santa’s presence for their children.

The parents are not Christian. Nor, like most Canadians, do they think of themselves as religious. But, like a couple of billion others around the world, they cherish Christmas and the often-wondrous time it can bring. The sparkling lights in winter’s darkness. The surprisingly pleasant exchanges between friends, work colleagues and family. The gifts and cards. The music, both schmaltzy and sublime.

Without being naive, the parents of the two children seem to be on to something. They believe people can retain the enchantment of Santa Claus and other things that go along with Christmas long after children stop literally believing in the red-jacketed man from the North Pole bearing gifts. One truly does not have to be “Christian” or “religious,” whatever those terms really mean, to find value in Christmas.

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I was raised in an atheist family in East Vancouver. But, like many un-churched people, I found Christmas to be more or less fabulous.

The believing-in-Santa thing lasted until I was about six, when I woke up at 5:30 a.m. on Christmas morning and looked out the front window and saw my mom hauling a bicycle up the front stairs from our neighbour’s house. The bike turned out to be my big gift from, um, Santa.

I don’t remember really caring the fairy tale had been broken. My older brother and I continued to revel in the fun, food and excitement surrounding Christmas, what with the filled stockings and everyone going out of their way to not argue and be nice.

I still find it amusing that my brother and I, who thought of ourselves as tough boys and atheists to boot, would each year just love decorating the Christmas tree with tinsel, ornaments and red, yellow and green lights. Mom would laugh at the sight of her two boys, even as teenagers, spacing out the decorations to obtain the full Christmas esthetic. I guess she found it unexpectedly sweet.

To get a buzz from Christmas requires re-imagining it, somewhat in the way of a child. It requires a ‘second naivete.’ (Photo: Santa Claus at Surrey Memorial Hospital Pediatric Unit.)Mark van Manen /
PNG

So I must admit when each December comes along and the first erratic shots in the annual “War on Christmas” hit the news that I only partly get what the fuss is about. The latest foray came out of Victoria, where city council earnestly decided to take seriously the charges of Coun. Ben Issit that the city’s public seasonal displays, of decorated evergreens, stars and poinsettias, were not “diverse” enough.

I understand that in this culturally pluralistic world there are a million different edgy viewpoints about what Christmas means or doesn’t mean, should or shouldn’t be. After all, as Gerry Bowler, the Canadian author of The World Encyclopedia of Christmas, says, it is an understandable target because it is “the biggest single event on the planet.”

Personally I think it’s just fine some people do not like Christmas, including because it has loose origins in a minor Christian festival, which was itself based on a European pagan one. They’re entitled to their feelings and opinions about Christmas, downer or not. But the naysayers could also leave a space in their hearts to let the rest of us quietly get a charge out of it.

You definitely don’t have to be Christian to enjoy many things about the Christmas season. Since I cover cultural and religious diversity, I’m constantly told by Sikhs, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Confucianists, agnostics and atheists that they enjoy the secular aspects of Christmas (and even some of the Christian themes), including the light displays, trees in office foyers and heightened spirit of good will.

I’m constantly told by Sikhs, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Confucianists, agnostics and atheists that they enjoy the secular aspects of Christmas (and even some of the Christian themes), including the light displays, trees in office foyers and heightened spirit of good will.Gerry Kahrmann /
PNG

New immigrants tell me they expect Canadians to follow their centuries-old traditions, just as they would expect a Canadian who chose to move to a country that was predominantly Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Shinto or officially atheist to basically go along with, or at least tolerate, the customs of those nations. Despite all the shots at Christmas, it’s more than interesting to note polls show 90 per cent of Canadians still prefer people to say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays.”

But let’s not get distracted yet again by the war on Christmas, even if it contains some valid points to figure out about how to live in a pluralistic world in which the state does not treat someone as lesser because they don’t follow a particular faith.

To get a buzz from Christmas requires re-imagining it, somewhat in the way of a child. It requires a second naiveté.

This concept is not as complicated as it might sound, since many of us already practise various kinds of second naiveté. We do not believe in an actual Santa Claus. Some of us also no longer hold literally to certain supernatural beliefs, whether Christian, Muslim or Sikh. We have become aware of the logical flaws, the cracks, in certain doctrines.

But that does not mean many of us do not take seriously various scriptures and ancient teachings. We can still find meaning in an array of wisdom traditions and philosophies. Some wise people maintain every human being is inherently religious, in the broadest sense; even atheists hold to deep convictions about the purpose of events they experience.

Second naiveté, a term coined by French philosopher Paul Ricouer, helps us come to a new way of approaching our ultimate beliefs, including about Christmas. It makes it possible to have a critical mind and be realistic about traditional teachings, yet still find them significant.

‘It’s easy to act like we are just too sophisticated for Christmas, grumbling about the suddenly omnipresent stars, poinsettias and holly berries. Itâs more compelling to adopt a childlike approach to the renewed sense of fellowship, wonder and gratitude.’ (Photo: Christmas Lights Across Canada illumination ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Dec. 5, 2018.)Justin Tang /
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Ron Rolheiser, a Canadian member of the Oblate order, offers a parable to explain second naiveté.

“If you ask a naive child: ‘Do you believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny?’ she answers ‘Yes.’ If you ask a bright child: ‘Do you believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny?’ she answers ‘No.’ But if you ask even a brighter child: ‘Do you believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny,’ she answers ‘Yes.’ But for a different reason,” writes Rolheiser.

“One sees in this little story a movement from naiveté through sophistication to a certain post-sophistication, from childishness through enlightenment to child-like-ness. Notice that what is being affirmed, though, is neither the conservative belief that the right move is to go back to something we once had, nor the liberal belief that we become ever more free and happy the more sophisticated we become.”

The parents of young children that we know think about it in a similar way. In essence, like many dads and moms, they hope when their kids grow up and inevitably lose their first naiveté they will continue to believe that Santa Claus and other customs of the Christmas season are living metaphors for some profoundly real things — like generosity, beauty and kindness.

Likewise, even while we justifiably become irritated by cheesy songs and aggressive Christmas marketing and the many things wrong in the world at this time of the year, it doesn’t hurt to open our hearts to the universal values inherent in a warm Christmas greeting, an unexpected gift, a dazzling light display or a glowing candle.

It’s easy to act like we’re just too sophisticated for it all, grumbling about the suddenly omnipresent stars, poinsettias and holly berries. It’s more compelling to adopt a childlike approach to the renewed sense of fellowship, wonder and gratitude, which more than a few thinkers suggest are the essence of spirituality, if not mysticism.

Critical thinking is necessary and fine. But, despite the numerous imperfections of Christmas, they’re not the end of the seasonal story. Even if you’re one of the many Canadians who is not Christian, even if you’re not religious in an explicit sense, feel free to experience this as a sacred time.

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